Harold Camping - prophet of the end times

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."  Matthew 7:15

I researched why Family Christian Radio states that 3% or roughly 200 million will be saved in the rapture on May 21st, 2011.  Apparently it all stems from a Biblical prophet, Harold Camping.

Mr. Camping is a very interesting fellow.  He reminds me a lot of the Jehovah Witness founder, Charles Taze Russell.  Men SO desperate to find conclusive evidence in the Bible to prove the end of days.  To prove that their beliefs are true.  If the Bible says we are to beware of false prophets, then who are we to trust?

While researching Harold Camping I came across this great Wikepedia site with a picture of the Judgment Day Bus:

According to the article concerning May 21st, here are the following items that support the date of the rapture:


A commonly cited proof in favor of the May 21st date is:

1. According to Camping, the number five equals "atonement", the number ten equals "completeness", and the number seventeen equals "heaven".
2. Christ is said to have hung on the cross on April 1, 33 AD. The time between April 1, 33 AD and April 1, 2011 is 1,978 years.
3. If 1,978 is multiplied by 365.2422 days (the number of days in a solar year, not to be confused with the lunar year), the result is 722,449.
4. The time between April 1 and May 21st is 51 days.
5. 51 added to 722,449 is 722,500.
6. (5 x 10 x 17)² or (atonement x completeness x heaven)² also equals 722,500.

Thus, Camping concludes that 5 x 10 x 17 is telling us a "story from the time Christ made payment for our sins until we're completely saved."

There is also a calendar that describes why October 21st is the end of the world:

TIMING OF IMPORTANT EVENTS IN HISTORY

11,013 BC—Creation.  God created the world and man (Adam and Eve).

4990 BC—The flood of Noah’s day.  All perished in a worldwide flood.  Only Noah, his wife, and his 3 sons and their wives survived in the ark (6023 years from creation).

7 BC—The year Jesus Christ was born (11,006 years from creation). 

33 AD—The year Jesus Christ was crucified and the church age began (11,045 years from creation; 5023 calendar years from the flood).

1988 AD—This year ended the church age and began the great tribulation period of 23 years (13,000 years from creation).

1994 AD—On September 7^th, the first 2300-day period of the great tribulation came to an end and the latter rain began, commencing God’s plan to save a great multitude of people outside of the churches (13,006 years from creation).

2011 AD—On May 21^st, Judgment Day will begin and the rapture (the taking up into heaven of God’s elect people) will occur at the end of the 23-year great tribulation.  On October 21^st, the world will be destroyed by fire (7000 years from the flood; 13,023 years from creation).

And there, in a nutshell, is why May 21st is appearing all over billboards and getting media attention.  However, the calculations are done by a man.  Just a man who considers himself a prophet.  Of course, this prophet also predicted the rapture would come in 1994.  Obviously that didn't happen.

In my humble, Christian, opinion: this Earth will continue to change as the years go on; the Earth is an active planet.  But if there is a God, he is letting man destroy himself - which man has been trying to do since Cain killed Abel.  After all, God is a father and can only watch while his children make poor choices and out of jealousy and fear hurt each other.

I can only hope that I constantly learn to accept others and love others, even when I don't like how they act and how they treat others.  I can only move forward hoping to be more Christlike, and learn from my mistakes and short-comings.